Tennessee Republicans have outdone David Horowitz, Daniel Pipes and Charles Jacobs in writing the most disgusting, lurid and smear-filled press release I’ve read so far in this campaign attacking Barack Obama. Since they’ve slightly cleaned it up since first publishing it, I’m providing the Google cache of the original version. The release, headlined Anti-Semites for Obama, lumps in this group Louis Farrakhan, Rashid Khalidi, a Chicago non-profit group, University of Illinois Prof. Bill Ayers, and Rob Malley. Here are some of the choicer nuggets of wisdom (and note the use of the candidate’s middle name below):

The Tennessee Republican Party today joins a growing chorus of Americans concerned about the future of the nation of Israel, the only stable democracy in the Middle East, if Sen. Barack Hussein Obama is elected president of the United States.

…Nation of Islam Minister Louis Farrakhan on Sunday likened Obama to a new messiah…

Of course he did nothing of the sort, though he did call him “the hope of the world.” In this passage the release reminds readers of Obama’s so-called Muslim roots:

Obama, (pictured dressed in Muslim attire in a 2006 visit to Africa)…

Obama has pledged to hold a Muslim Summit to determine Middle East policy with the very leaders that have as their goal to remove Israel from the map, referenced Jews to be “dogs” and “pigs,” among other vile references.

Precisely which Arab leaders have called Jews dogs and pigs? Of course, Obama has not pledged to hold a Muslim Summit to “determine Middle East policy.” He’s suggested holding a summit to listen to the Arab world and attempt to improve the standing of the U.S. within the Arab world. Only in the world of the wingnut is talking with someone viewed as surrendering to them.

Now, this one is really complicated and bizarre so you have to follow all the obscure references:

The board of a nonprofit organization on which Obama served as a paid director alongside a confessed domestic terrorist granted funding to a controversial Arab group that mourns the establishment of Israel as a “catastrophe.”

The co-founder of that organization, Columbia University professor Rashid Khalidi, who also has held a fundraiser for Obama, is a harsh critic of Israel and has made statements supportive of Palestinian terror. Khalidi reportedly has worked on behalf of the Palestine Liberation Organization while it was involved in anti-Western terrorism and was labeled by the State Department as a terror group.

The Woods Fund, a Chicago-based nonprofit that describes itself as a group helping the disadvantaged, provided a $40,000 grant in 2001 to the Arab American Action Network, or AAAN, for which Khalidi’s wife, Mona, serves as president. The Fund provided a second grant to the AAAN for $35,000 in 2002. Obama was a director of the Woods Fund board from 1999 to Dec. 11, 2002, according to the Fund’s website. Tax records show he was paid $6,000 per year for his service in 1999 and 2001.

Also serving on the Wood’s Fund board alongside Obama was current University of Illinois-Chicago professor William C. Ayers, who was a member of the Weathermen terrorist group which sought to overthrow of the U.S. government and took responsibility for bombing the U.S. Capitol in 1971.

First, Rashid Khalidi has NEVER “made statements supportive of Palestinian terror.” You’ll note absolutely no proof is presented for this charge which probably has been lifted directly from a Campus Watch or Frontpagemagazine publication. Second, I wonder whether there is any proof that the PLO was “labeled by the State Department as a terrorist group.” I’m fairly certain that such federal terror designations began well after the PLO renounced terrorism. Third, the press release produces no proof that the Arab-American Action Network is a “controversial Arab group” (except in the minds of the author of the release and Pipes, Horowitz and Jacobs) nor that it “mourned the establishment of Israel as ‘a catastrophe.'” Fourth, the release calls Bill Ayers a “confessed domestic terrorist” but never provides any proof of any act of terror he ever engaged in. Instead it notes that the Weathermen, of which he was a member, “sought to overthrow the government” and bombed the U.S. Capitol, which is a far cry from proving that Ayers himself committed any act of terror.

The piece de la resistance is this knife-slashing of Rob Malley, a former Clinton Mideast advisor. Note the quotation from Horowitz’s hatchet-job Discoverthenetworks:

“You don’t even have to go outside Obama’s campaign to find advisers who are anti-Israel,” said Bill Hobbs, communications director for the Tennessee Republican Party. “Robert Malley, a principal foreign policy adviser to Obama, has advocated negotiations with the Iranian-funded radical terrorist group Hamas and urged that Hamas – which sends suicide bombers to kill innocent women and children – receive international assistance.”

According to DiscoverTheNetworks.org, an online guide to the political Left, Malley “consistently condemns Israel, exonerates Palestinians, urges U.S. disengagement from Israel, and recommends that America reach out to negotiate with its traditional Arab enemies.”

“Nothing in Barack Obama’s history or his choice of advisers suggests he will be a friend to Israel,” said Hobbs. “On the contrary, supporters of Israel should view a possible Obama administration with extreme caution, as America’s ally is being put in the cross-hairs by the anti-Jewish left.”

Malley certainly does NOT “urge U.S. disengagement from Israel” and five of Clinton’s top advisors who are supporting both presidential candidates wrote a letter defending and supporting Malley from these vicious smears. Not to mention that Malley isn’t a formal or even informal advisor to the Obama campaign. But why let facts get in your way when ignorance is such bliss?

I just hope that John McCain’s campaign goes in this direction. It will be oh so much easier to beat him than if he took the high road. But in truth, given the Supreme Court’s green light to 528 groups to raise and spend even more tens of millions than they did in the last campaign, it will be such groups spreading such vileness. And the beauty of this for a candidate like McCain is that he can do what Bush did during the Swift Boat episode–sit back, look pretty, and smile like the cat that ate the canary.

Would it be expecting too much to ask McCain to denounce this filth? Thanks to reader American Goy for a heads up on this and for pointing me to Digby’s coverage.

“NOW, UNDERSTAND, NOT ONLY WILL I STOP EATING HAM SANDWICHES … BUT IF I EVER SERVE AS A PROSECUTOR, I’LL INDICT THEM AS WELL. … YES, EVEN IF CANNED!”

–ellen

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February 28, 2008 4:10 AM

ellen

Remembering what they did to Cynthia McKinney – and (reportedly) are trying to do to Kucinich, I am going to be really mad if the right-wing loony Jewish influence undercuts Obama and gives the election to McCain.

You know how assertions – never mind how idiotic – if repeated enough tend to gain traction.
I hear even not-so-loony, so-called ‘Liberal’ Jews worrying whether Obama is “good for Israel”. That definitely is his Achilles heel. Not in my mind, but in the mind of his potential backers.

It also points to some dualistic thinking, which also was a factor in the last election, in that many Jews felt torn about voting for Bush – the candidate whom they considered more “pro-Israel’, yet whose social ideology was opposed to their more liberal ideology.

[I remember hearing that Jews actually did not vote majority for Bush, but I’m never really sure about how people figure these things and how accurate these statements are.]

ellen

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February 28, 2008 4:20 AM

ellen

Hey Richard,
Gotta tell you:
Having just seen an old tape of Obama on Ellen Degeneres’ show, I’m a believer.
A president who can dance!
very cool.

—er

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February 28, 2008 5:05 AM

ellen

sorry for clogging up the comment box – my last words:
Tony Karon on Obama and the Jewish vote:

“The problem with Obama, for the Zionist establishment, is that he may not muster the degree of racist contempt for the Palestinians that they can safely expect from Hillary Clinton. The deeper problem for the Zionist establishment, of course, is that Jewish Americans are flocking to Obama despite their coded warnings”

There are many points that can be made here, but in looking at ‘the bigger picture’, it seems to me that this press release is a symptom of the ugly reality that this is a day and age in which you can be bigoted against Arabs and Muslims and (largely) get away with it. “Traditional Arab enemies”…this sickens me – Arabs are not my enemies. The members of the Tennessee Republican Party should be labeled for what they are: they are bigots.

As for the hysterical reaction to the photo, it’s pretty scary how small-minded some Americans can be. Shunning other cultures is nothing to be proud of.

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February 28, 2008 9:30 AM

khaled hamid

As usual, a great post, and intelligent comments.
Still, this is an issue that is getting to me. I am a Muslim, and I support Obama, not because of his middle name, but because the spirit that could eventually get him in the white house is what would like to see prevail for a change in this country, my country. But I am scared to death that the stupid tactics of the likes of Tennessee republicans, may actually not only give us 4 (or 8) more years of the same, but will actually kill the spirit of so many who feel they finally have a voice.
Scare tactics work especially where ignorance is king.
Just for fun, and recalling some photos I have seen in the distant past, i did some Google search and easily found the follwing:http://www.ethiopianrestaurant.com/images/ethiopian_jews_photos_6.jpghttp://www.pbase.com/yalop/image/23648323http://www.pbase.com/yalop/image/23648329http://www.pbase.com/yalop/image/23648306
Who knows. May be someone can use these to convince those upset by Obama in ‘Muslim’ attire that it was actually ‘Jewish’ attire.
In reality, I think some (esp. republicans, and – may be – the Clinton camp) want to hurt him for their own ‘electoral’ gains, but others (.e.g., right wing pro-Likud Jews are not happy with progressive Jews behind Obama, and want to cripple him by blackmailing him into committing to certain policies now – practically tying his hands in case he gets elected.
khaled

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February 28, 2008 9:48 PM

n123rog

this is the sort of thing I’d expect from guys like Jacobs, Pipes and that other guy M. Thomas Eisenstadt who also all ‘consulted’ for Giuliani. Fat lot of good it did him.

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February 28, 2008 9:59 PM

j.c.

Who cares whether he is good for iSRAEL or not ?
My ONLY concern is whether he is good for America and Americans!
And iSRAEL can take the hindmost !

[link removed per comment rules]

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February 29, 2008 2:37 AM

ellen

Khaled,
I understand why Obama would want people to know the truth of who he is, also he wants to be elected, so he states, “I am not Muslim, I am Christian.”

Still, every time I hear it, I wonder how a Muslim feels, knowing that Obama has to deny being a Muslim, because that would be the “kiss of death” in American politics.

I remember many years ago, a person said to me that he would vote for Barry Goldwater [a conservative who ran a few decades ago] except for the fact that Goldwater was Jewish.
I replied to him, that Goldwater wasn’t Jewish, but I am.

While I don’t criticize Barack for how he responds…after all we all want to assert the truth of who we are, I feel sad that to many, the implication must be that to be Muslim is such a negative.

Ah well – I guess we can point to some progress on that front – Congressperson Keith Ellison.

–ellen

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February 29, 2008 3:54 AM

khaled Hamid

Hi Ellen:
I like how he handled it so far. He is right to assert who he is, and as for Muslims around me, I never got the impression any one feels hurt by that. He is popular within my group if friend, Muslims and non-Muslims alike simply because he doe not come across as in anyone’s pocket (yet!!).
By the way, Keith Ellison is a great example because of the very diverse nature of the coalition behind his success. So, you are right, some progress is happening – but considering that the dream of MLJ Jr is 40 years old now, how many millennia will it take before it becomes reality.
khaled

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February 29, 2008 8:00 AM

Donald Johnson

I don’t know about this particular group, but I thought the “catastrophe” reference was simply referring to the Nabqa (sp?), which is how the Palestinians refer to 1948 and their expulsion. It was a catastrophe for them. One should be able to recognize that Palestinians are going to feel this way without having to commit to the idea that, for instance, a one state solution is the only way to go forwards.

Yes, of course you’re right & they’re referring to the Naqba (or Nakba) or Catastrophe. But the pt. is we don’t even know whether this Arab group ever did such a thing. And even if they did there’s nothing intrinsically anti-Semitic in the phrase.

We Jews have the destruction of our two Temples which we call the churban bayit. Imagine if marking such a sad day (Tisha B’Av) meant we were in favor of genocide against the Romans or Assyrians who destroyed our sacred houses?

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